Kate Hewitt - The Best Of The Year - Modern Romance 2016

‘I have never slept with the Countess,’ he told her. ‘She is a friend and neighbour, nothing more. Look, why don’t you come with me tonight? I can easily ring Claudia and explain I have a guest.’

She frowned, then shook her head. ‘No, no, please don’t. I really don’t want to have to wear that silly wig and be introduced as someone else.’

‘Then come as yourself. The Countess loves nothing better than to entertain a celebrity in her home.’

‘But I thought you wanted to keep my identity a secret!’

‘That was before. I realise now that I was being paranoid about the paparazzi. Besides, Claudia won’t tell anyone if I ask her not to. On top of that, what kind of holiday is it if you can’t relax and just be yourself?’

Her frown dissolved into the loveliest of smiles. ‘You really are a very nice man,’ she said. ‘When you’re not being wicked,’ she added before he could take her compliment to heart.

‘I’m only wicked around you,’ he said, and she laughed.

She was still smiling when they boarded the boat.

‘What’s so funny?’ he asked.

‘I was thinking how much I enjoy being your friend with benefits. I’m going to miss you when I have to go back to New York.’ She sighed. ‘If only you didn’t live so far away...’

‘There are planes, you know, Bella. I can be in New York in a few hours.’

She looked genuinely surprised. ‘You’d come and visit me?’

‘I think I could be persuaded,’ he said, having resolved not to rush things.

‘What would I have to do to persuade you?’ she asked.

He smiled what he hoped was a devilishly charming smile. ‘I’ll show you later tonight.’

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

BELLA WASN’T OFTEN nervous these days. But she felt nervous tonight. Or was it excitement that was making her heart pound as she walked, hand in hand, with Sergio to the villa next door?

I’ll show you later tonight...

She hadn’t been able to get his erotically charged promise out of her head.

He was a devil with the ladies, she accepted. A very handsome devil. He looked utterly gorgeous tonight dressed in tailored black trousers and a snow-white silk shirt, opened at the neck. He’d shaved off the macho stubble he’d been sporting since she arrived, but it didn’t make him any less attractive to her. She found his well-groomed appearance even sexier, because she knew the conservative image he projected tonight wasn’t the real Sergio. The real Sergio was nothing like she’d always imagined. There was nothing conservative about the man who’d suggested their friends with benefits relationship. A shiver ran down her spine as she wondered what more benefits lay in store for her later tonight.

‘Are you cold?’ he asked straight away.

‘A little,’ she lied. How could she possibly be cold when her whole body was burning with desire?

‘You should have brought a wrap,’ he said. ‘That outfit you’ve got on is lovely but not exactly designed to be worn outside on a cool evening.’

Bella was wearing a white pantsuit with flared trousers and a halter-necked top with a mostly bare back. The top was lined but the amount of skin exposed meant that a bra was out of the question. She hadn’t brought many clothes with her, but this outfit was a staple with her when travelling. It could be rolled up into a ball then unravelled without a single crease. She’d paid a small fortune for it but her stylist at the time had said the outlay would be well worth it in the end.

And it had been.

It was also a sexy garment that suited her colouring and made her look very tall and elegant when she wore it with high heels. Tonight, however, she’d teamed it with low-heeled silver sandals for the ten-minute walk Sergio had said it would take to reach the Countess’s villa. Her hair was up so that it wouldn’t be messed up by the breeze from the lake.

‘I didn’t bring a wrap with me,’ she said. ‘I packed in rather a hurry.’

‘Then let me keep you warm,’ he said, folding an arm around her shoulder and pulling her close.

Bella suppressed a groan as she instantly responded, her nipples peaking like bullets against the silk lining, her lower belly tightening. Never in her life had she been so aware of her body, especially that area between her legs that was already throbbing with need. The thought of sitting at some dinner table for hours making small talk with someone she didn’t know was horrendous. She would much rather be back in Sergio’s bedroom, letting him show her what she could do to persuade him to visit her in New York.

Whatever it was, she would do it. She would do anything to have Sergio in her bed on a regular basis. She could not imagine life without him in it. He made her feel things that she’d never felt before. When she was with him, she didn’t feel a failure. Or a bore. She felt deliciously sexy and fabulously free of all those negative emotions that lovemaking had always produced in her. Maybe one day she would find another man who satisfied her as much as Sergio did but she doubted it. He was a fantastic lover, with a magnificent body just made for sex. On top of that, he was a true friend. He didn’t try to con her with lies, or seduce her with flattery. He was honest with her. God, but she liked that. A lot.

‘We don’t have to stay too late, do we?’ she asked.

* * *

Sergio’s heart turned over at the urgency in her voice. She might not love him, but she wanted him. Wanting someone could be very powerful, as he well knew. But it was not love.

Making Bella fall in love with him would require more than just giving her sex whenever and wherever she wanted it. Whilst he did not agree with the popular male mantra of treat ’em mean and keep ’em keen, he did understand that the female sex liked a man to be a challenge. In view of that idea, he vowed not to hurry home tonight. He would make her wait. Make her want him very badly. And if his conscience pricked him at this tactic, if there was an element of vengeance in pushing her frustration to the brink, then so be it. Let her suffer a little the way he’d suffered all these years. Let her know what it was like not to have what you wanted.

Sergio suspected it might be a new experience for Bella.

‘I’m sorry, Bella,’ he said, ‘but I couldn’t possibly offend Claudia by leaving early. She was most excited when I told her who I was bringing for dinner. Now don’t pout. You’ll enjoy her company, I assure you. Not to mention her food and wine. The Countess only serves the very best.’

‘I am not pouting.’

‘Oh, yes, you are. And very prettily too. I’d kiss you into a better mood if Claudia wasn’t watching us from the terrace. So be a good girl and smile.’

‘Good Lord!’ Bella exclaimed once the Countess’s home came into better view. ‘That’s not a villa. That’s a palace!’

‘Not quite, but it is grand, I admit,’ Sergio said as he steered her up the steep path towards the stone steps that would lead them up onto the imposingly large terrace. ‘Wait till you see the main reception room,’ he added before they were within earshot of their beaming hostess. ‘Acres of marble and the most expensive antique furniture money can buy. Of course, the Count was very rich. And very old. He died shortly after their first wedding anniversary. Rumour has it he died with a smile on his face.’

‘I can imagine,’ Bella whispered as they mounted the steps. ‘She’s very beautiful.’

‘But not as young as she looks,’ he whispered back, then said, ‘Claudia!’ in a normal voice. ‘How lovely you look tonight.’

‘Why, thank you, Sergio,’ she replied in her fake Italian accent. Sergio knew full well that she wasn’t Italian born, his father having confided in him that she’d come from Albania, having been born into a dirt-poor family a few years after the war. Sergio never let on that he knew the truth about her background. Everyone was entitled to at least one secret in their life. He certainly had his, vowing that he would never tell Bella how much he’d always wanted her. Such knowledge would not enhance his attractiveness in her eyes.